[Maelob]

  I'm interested in these as well. I hope the bass is good.

+1, I hope they sound a little more exciting than the PM-3s 

 

[gortman]

  @XERO1 Looks like you are based in SoCal. Want to come by next week and check out the SQ on Sine ?

XERO1 - Did you ever take up the offer and audition the Sine?

 

[XERO1]

 
XERO1 - Did you ever take up the offer and audition the Sine?

 
Funny you should ask!
 
I finally got the OK from Audeze to come down their HQ, and just yesterday I was able to stop by and have a nice, long listen.

 
I was greeted by Sankar, Marcus and Mark (and later by Dr. C) and was shown into a meeting room where they had a couple pairs of SINEs with both the standard and Cipher cables.  I brought an iPhone 6 with some of my favorite music test tracks so that I would have something familiar to listen to.  They also had a Deckard (used as a DAC) connected to The King amp, so I could hear what the SINE's sounded like at their best.  A couple other Head-Fi'ers came by and had a listen, but left after about half an hour or so.
 
Before I did any listening, I asked a bunch of questions I had about the SINE's and I found out some interesting things like:
 
- Currently the SINE are only available in all-black, the black-and-silver version shown in some photos will not be made
- Both the standard and Cipher cables are not 2.5m long like their webpage currently says, but are thankfully only around 4ft long.
- The SINE comes with a nice flat pouch that has a magnetic lip so it automatically snaps tightly shut
- They plan on offering a version of the $39 EL-8 travel case made specifically for the SINE as an option
- The $499 SINE w/ Cipher cable version will also include the standard cable as well
- The Cipher cable is plug-n-play, but Audeze also has a app that will allow the owner to adjust a 10-band EQ (currently with 2 separate memory presets) and then be able to save the EQ preset onto the Cipher cable's built-in non-volatile memory.  This allows you to plug your SINE into any iDevice and still be able to listen to them with your preferred EQ curve, whether that iDevice has the app or not. Pretty slick!  They also have some more possible features planned for the Cipher cable (that they are still developing) that they may announce at a later date
- Approx. 25% of the 250 Apple stores in the US have multi-brand headphone listening tables and the SINE should be available to audition at these stores by April.  Audeze also offers a 30 day risk-free trial period if you purchase them directly from Audeze's website, so if you don't like them, it will only cost you their return shipping
 
So how did they sound!?  At first, I was not that impressed.  The first pair I tried on was a near-final version and I was having a very hard time getting a good seal from the earpad.  When the seal was good, they sounded really nice.  They were very neutral sounding with decently deep, tight bass, smooth mids, and clear but non-fatiguing highs.  Imaging was slightly above average for a closed-back.  But if I moved my head too much to the left or right, the seal would break and the sound would lose it's tonal balance.  I then tried switching between the Cipher cable and standard one to see how loud they would go just using the iPhone's headphone jack.  The max volume levels for both cables were about the same.  I was able to get a very decent volume level from them from the headphone jack with music that had lower-than-average mastering levels, so you should be able to get more than enough volume when listening to popular music that has been mastered at higher (i.e. super loud) levels.
 
So after having mixed feelings about the SINE's, I decided to try on a different pair (the final production versions) to see if there would be any noticeable differences.  I'm glad I did.  Right away, the clamp was significantly tighter and the issue I had been having with the seal with the first pair instantly went away.  Now I could move my head in any direction and the sound stayed consistently the same.  One major difference between the near-final and final versions that the guys forgot to mention was that the headband arc had been changed to be much more narrow, so out of the box the clamp is much tighter.  Of course, if you have a larger head, the headband will naturally stretch out, but if you have a more narrow head (like mine), this makes a huge difference.  Comfort was good (but not great) for me but I could see myself wearing them for a few hours at a time without a problem.  I think that if the earpads were a little thicker, this would help to make them more comfortable.  But especially because these are on-ears, everyone is going to have a different experience with the SINE's comfort level, so that's something that only you can be the judge of.
 
I then had a listen to them through the Deckard DAC and The King amp and there was a definite improvement!  Everything became noticeably better across the board, so the SINE are capable of scaling with better gear.  And now I could turn them up as loud as I wanted!  Now, it wasn't a night-and-day improvement. It didn't magically transform them into giant-killers. The SINE's aren't going to be replacing your big-boy headphones, but that's not what they were designed for.  But for what they are: a relatively compact, very attractive and premium looking, proudly Made In The USA, on-ear headphone that allows you to enjoy a genuinely high-resolution listing experience on the go and look good doing it, I'd say that the SINE definitely deliver!
 
I'd really like to thank everyone that I met at Audeze for a wonderful evening of listening!  Can't wait to see you guys again (and everyone else) in March at the SoCal CanJam!
 

 

 

[marcan]

Thank you XERO1 for sharing your experience.
No plan for a open back version?.

 

[gortman]

XERO1,
 
Thanks a ton for the writeup and for taking the time to share your experience checking out the Sine.  A couple of questions:
 
1. You mention $499 Sine will include both the Cipher cable and a standard cable.  If that's true it would be great, as I think the early press I read made it sound like the Cipher cable would be a $100 add-on to the "standard" $499 Sine.  Can you confirm that they will include the Cipher cable for the $499 price?
 
2. If you've listened to the Oppo PM-3s, do you have a favorite between that and the Sine?  I realize one is over ear and one is on ear, but just curious if the Sine is $100 better than the PM-3.
 
Thanks again!

 

[mscott58]

  XERO1,
 
Thanks a ton for the writeup and for taking the time to share your experience checking out the Sine.  A couple of questions:
 
1. You mention $499 Sine will include both the Cipher cable and a standard cable.  If that's true it would be great, as I think the early press I read made it sound like the Cipher cable would be a $100 add-on to the "standard" $499 Sine.  Can you confirm that they will include the Cipher cable for the $499 price?
 
2. If you've listened to the Oppo PM-3s, do you have a favorite between that and the Sine?  I realize one is over ear and one is on ear, but just curious if the Sine is $100 better than the PM-3.
 
Thanks again!

Looks like the pricing has now changed according to the Audeze site, with $499 being the price with the Cipher cable and the standard cable being $449. Cheers 

 

[gortman]

  Looks like the pricing has now changed according to the Audeze site, with $499 being the price with the Cipher cable and the standard cable being $449. Cheers 

Nice!  Haven't been on their site in a few weeks so that's great news.

 

[XERO1]

 
No plan for a open back version?.

 
The SINE's are primarily intended to be used as a portable headphone that you can happily take out-and-about and use while around other people, so having an open-back version wouldn't make much sense due to sound leakage and isolation issues.
 
 

 
2. If you've listened to the Oppo PM-3s, do you have a favorite between that and the Sine?  I realize one is over ear and one is on ear, but just curious if the Sine is $100 better than the PM-3.

 
Confort-wise, the PM-3 is definitely better.  But I was really disappointed with the PM-3's SQ the last time I heard them.  They sounded surprisingly dull and lifeless to me (and to many others as well).  The SINE sounded much more dynamically alive to my ear. 
 
So, as usual, neither of them are perfect. 

  They each have their own unique set of strengths and weaknesses. 
If it were me, I would start with the SINE because I think it is the better sounding and looking headphone of he two (and because Audeze actively encourages you to order them, audition them, and then return them if you don't like them) and see what you think.  If they don't do it for you, return them and then give the PM-3 a whirl.  Or you could just buy them both at the same time so that you can do a side-by-side comparison, and return the one you don't like.

 

[gortman]

XERO1,

Thanks again for getting all this intel for us.

One more question:
In your opinion, is the Cipher cable worth the extra $50?

Thanks.

 

[XERO1]

Obviously, if you don't plan on using an iDevice for music playback, I would say no.
 
But if you are going to be using an iDevice, than I would say it's definitely worth it just for the in-line controls alone.  Plus, the EQ feature is pretty cool.  One thing that Sankar explained to me was that if you use a basic software-based EQ app on an iDevice, there are certain audio streams that may not be compatible with the software-based EQ and it will be bypassed without telling you, but because the Audeze EQ is firmware-based and permanently stored in the Cipher cable, all audio streams will have the selected EQ curve applied to them 100% of the time.
 
And Audeze plans on adding even more capabilities to the Cipher cable down the road, so I'd say it's totally worth the extra $50 bucks.

 

[gortman]

  Obviously, if you don't plan on using an iDevice for music playback, I would say no.
 
But if you are going to be using an iDevice, than I would say it's definitely worth it just for the in-line controls alone.  Plus, the EQ feature is pretty cool.  One thing that Sankar explained to me was that if you use a basic software-based EQ app on an iDevice, there are certain audio streams that may not be compatible with the software-based EQ and it will be bypassed without telling you, but because the Audeze EQ is firmware-based and permanently stored in the Cipher cable, all audio streams will have the selected EQ curve applied to them 100% of the time.
 
And Audeze plans on adding even more capabilities to the Cipher cable down the road, so I'd say it's totally worth the extra $50 bucks.

Awesome - thanks for your reply.

 

[mscott58]

Another question for Audeze (if they're monitoring this thread) is what is going to happen to those of us who prepaid/pre-ordered the Sine at the $499 level, thinking that the Cipher cable was not included (and cost $100 extra for a total of $599)? Do we get the Cipher cable as well? Do we get refunded the $50 difference now that the price is $449 without the Cipher cable? If we get the Cipher included would we get the Sine shipped when it is ready (hopefully any time now) and then the Cipher later when it is ready?

Also the last communication I received from Audeze saying: "We just realized our overpaid website developers made a mistake on the new SINE headphone pages of our website. Instead of a Buy Now button, it should have been Pre-Order Now because we will not be shipping the new SINE on-ear until March or early April. We sincerely apologize for this error." However, the Sine webpage it still says "BUY NOW" and for the non-Cipher version it says "Expected shipping middle of February." Also they said "FYI, the SINE headphone with Lightning cable should be shipping in the April/May time frame at $599 retail." Kind of confused at this point. I'll reach out to Audeze directly as well.

Cheers

 

[Allanmarcus]

Try this web page:
 
https://www.audeze.com/contact-us
 
Also, if you are under 30, you may not realize this, but your smartphone has a realtime, voice enabled, universal communication app built right it! Open the "phone" app and look for the something call a "keypad". Enter this secret code for Audeze and press the green button. (714) 581-8010.
 
Then hold the top part of the smartphone to your ear and the bottom part of the smartphone to your mouth. After the connection is made with Audeze, you can talk and the person on the other end can hear you! WAY faster than e-mail, twitter, texting, instagram, pinterest, Facebook, Google+, or even LinkedIn!
 

 

[marcan]

 
The SINE's are primarily intended to be used as a portable headphone that you can happily take out-and-about and use while around other people, so having an open-back version wouldn't make much sense due to sound leakage and isolation issues.

I'm looking for portable and SQ. So for me closed back is a no no.

 

[mscott58]

  Try this web page:
 
https://www.audeze.com/contact-us
 
Also, if you are under 30, you may not realize this, but your smartphone has a realtime, voice enabled, universal communication app built right it! Open the "phone" app and look for the something call a "keypad". Enter this secret code for Audeze and press the green button. (714) 581-8010.
 
Then hold the top part of the smartphone to your ear and the bottom part of the smartphone to your mouth. After the connection is made with Audeze, you can talk and the person on the other end can hear you! WAY faster than e-mail, twitter, texting, instagram, pinterest, Facebook, Google+, or even LinkedIn!
 

Ha! Nice one. I actually know the Audeze crew so just emailed them directly. The phone concept is a good one as well! 

 Cheers